How are you supposed to form a alliance now?

No, this is the fixing of a bug. You have to be close to form an alliance.

This bugged to friendly.

And now it's back, so it's actually DIFFICULT to win the game via alliance.

Just smarm them, be their friend, stick up for them, and be able to kill them at any time.

The trouble is, now it seems impossible to get anyone to "close".
Getting friendly is rather easy, but close is now seemingly impossible.

The bug was to fix forming an ally when friendly, not to altogether prevent becoming close.

What idealogical allignment are you?

it is tough to make alliances.... but the game is alot more realistic, and I have watched relationships go all over the place.... I have two allies, and our alliance is strong.. it is keeping our enemies at bay.

I always go Neutral, so it should not be that hard to form alliances with any of the groups. It should be easier still with other Neutral races like the Arceans, but I can not get them past friendly any more, either.

I just formed an alliance today with the Atceans So it is possible.

That's good to hear. At least it is not impossible.
You are using version 1.3, right?

I don't mind it being difficult to form a "alliance". But near impossible is another thing.

It seems to have gone from one extreme to another. (Mind you, I know its not impossible. The Ai did it. After a couple 100 turns.)

For me, It should build up after a long time of investment. Sorta like, the espionage feature. Let say, after 10,000 credits of trade. A alliance is formed.

Or a alliance of convenience to contain a "Greater threat". Like the dread lords. And after the dread lords are eradicated, then the alliance is dissolved. (Sorta like the "Botf" Military alliance to stop the Borg.)

As it stands now, The larger the galaxy. The easier of a aliance forming due to trade. (If Alliance's are based on trade value's) As I have read. ??? As of now, Alliance is near impossible to form on a smaller map.

Trade only HELPS to increase your relations. Look at the Report tab, I think, in the Foreign Relations window. In there it will give you a brief on the what is helping your relationship with the Arceans. Generally the one that I end up having against me is '--Our alarming influence'.

Also, what difficulty are you playing on? I would assume that higher difficulty would be tougher to get an alliance set up.

i think the report tab is vital for alliances but one i always get is "militeristic" does this mean they dont like me beacause i am or they are militaristic or am i missing the point. By the way tributing money can help you. In 1.2 i went from neutral to friendly with a race by giving them a wad of cash, but this only works to an extent with good races.

Even before 1.3, I have NEVER had a race be close with me. I do not think that has changed.

it used to be way to easy to win via alliances now that they fixxed it its alot more realistic.

Militaristic means that they are a conquering\warring race, so they are not on the lookout for many close friends. In general....

Agree, much too difficult to forge alliances now. With 1.3, they went from one extreme to the other. Can we please get that right? It has a huge impact on the way the game plays. As it stands, you could win a couple military conquests before you could win a diplomatic victory.

As a customer, it's great to see all these updates and I really do appreciate it. However, it's frustrating to see one problem fixed only to be replaced by another. Sometimes it's as if the developers are making changes without actually playing the game to see what effect they will have.

well in my latest game I managed to get a few races to close relations with little effort of my own, it could have been partly because I had neutral tendency for a while, a strong military and good relations in general. Although I didn't form any alliances in that game yet, but that shows it is possible to get close relations without much effort.

Well, you definitely can't "buy" close relations in 1.3. Just to test I spent about 10k+ as well as giving away ships and even planets to another civ, and we remained friendly the whole time and nothing more.

I am curious what other methods could be used to bring everyone closer together? Don't research a lot in the way of influence stuff? So they're not worried about our "alarming influence." Any ideas?

Anybody actually form an alliance with more then one race? I can usually get one to be ally. But after that it seems impossible. Giving everything under the son doesnt work at all. The problem is, lets say there are two races left in game. If you are allied with one race, and that race is also allied with the other race.. Makes it hard to beat the game with Diplomatic victory.

How strong is your military compared to the other race? Having a stronger military than them will make them more inclined to like you (just like having a weak military makes them more inclined to see you as a waste of time or, worse, as easy prey).

AI races, like nations in the real world, generally like to cozy up to a bigger dog. Allying with someone stronger than you earns you a degree of protection you could never muster yourself. Allying with someone weaker just exposes you to getting dragged into a war you don't want, and having to bail the lesser partner out when they inevitably get in over their heads. AI races, understandably, aren't eager to jump into a situation where that will happen.

So flex your muscles! Show the other race that you can not only hold your own, but you have the strength to help them out in times of need!


-Cauldyth

P.S. Just don't park your newly manufactured fleets too close to their border.

i'm currently playing a gigantic map, 4 AIs on Tough level setting.


I'm drath, and made alliance with the terran and arceans...(went neutral, although I'm thinking neutral is ok early in the game, but if you are playing a long drawn out game, evil would be better cos of the starbase mods cost and extra weapons).

they all had a better military than me, and I had to pay them a little cash for them to forge an alliance.

i never gave any gifts before hand.

I did leave a lot of lower PQ planets available in my star systems so they could intergrate with me and I never attacked anyone or placed miltary vessels or starbases except for resources in anyone elses owned sectors. (the lower Pq planets eventually 'flip' anyway)

I have a question about alliances though, will the AI break an alliance with you?

So far this has never happened to me.


-taz

I am in the middle of a 1.3 game, gigantic, tough, with 6 enemies. I allied with the Arceans very early, then went to war with and destroyed the Drengans. The Thalians then allied with me. Right now the Arceans and Thalians are my allies, the Torians and Alterians are friendly and I am on the verge of conquering the Korx. I am a playing as Terran and have researched much of the yellow techs. It can be done!

I say alliances are broken. It is not possible to sway a race to close relations through trade or bribery, period. In my current game I had two races of like ethical alignment form close relations with me without doing anything *at all* on my part. I did no trading with them. All I did was build my military strength significantlty past theirs and automagically, their relations went to close. OTOH, another race received all my trade routes plus lots of cash, techs, and ships. My influence and military strength was well above theirs. I could not sway them into close relations no matter how many times they told me they were improving them...broken.

Alliances aren't broken, but way tougher. I have a 4 person alliance as do the Arceans (in my current game). We are allied as well, but I was forced into a war because the Arceans started a war with someone, and they made peace and I am still fighting. One of my potential allies is at war with me, and the other one looks ready to make peace with the Arceans. I am looking for ways to force the Arceans to fight someone, or even start a war with them. It's so much fun now.

Nah, alliances aren't broken. Are you saying you should be able to buy an alliance with anyone you choose? That would make for a dull, dull game. Some races will like you, some won't. Work with the ones that do to eradicate the ones that don't.

That's much more fun than being able to say "Hmm, I think I'll make the Arceans my allies," and the Arceans having no choice in the matter simply because you wrote them a big fat check.

It's much more interesting to deal with opponents who behave like actual people - people who may have their own plans, which may not coincide with your own plans...


-Cauldyth

That's much more fun than being able to say "Hmm, I think I'll make the Arceans my allies," and the Arceans having no choice in the matter simply because you wrote them a big fat check. It's much more interesting to deal with opponents who behave like actual people - people who may have their own plans, which may not coincide with your own plans...

See, now that you say that I kinda realized it would be silly to just buy allies over time. You've gone and messed up my ideals with logic and reasoning   

I suppose it is probably better this way then, makes it a bit more interesting.

It's much more interesting to deal with opponents who behave like actual people - people who may have their own plans, which may not coincide with your own plans...

That's the point - the game's AI is pretty good. Just because a race won't ally with you doesn't mean its broken. It's just acting real.